Charlie's Angels--The Remake--Final

Life is Defined by the Past

We Live by: Personal Myths... by Dan P. McAdams.

This whole story was written by McAdams, who is a personality psychologist. His job and his purpose is to try and discover why people are who they say and act as they are. In order for him to achieve this he listens to people's stories and from there figures out how that past event might have effected their current situation/life. The one lady that is discussed in this research of his is Margaret Sands and at the age of 35, had went cross country with her daughter on a controversial mission of personal benefit. They went to an abandoned chapel where Margaret went for 5 horrific years for school. She says how she was beaten and humiliated, so when she went back to the chapel she cursed at it and destroyed as much as she saw fit. When she finished she saw a great accomplishment; what McAdams stated was that this
story had changed her and part of her life. He also said that this "personal myth" was what gave her no real foundation on life and by going back to perform her other "personal myth" it gave her more strength and a better sense that everything would be better. McAdams continues in his story to talk more about her "myths" and how they gave her the point of view on life.

Thoughts and What I Learned

After all that is said in this story of myths and how they shape a person and that life, I can say that all of this is not far fetched at all. When they say people can not change I think that this psychologist proves that theory wrong and that just by an event it will change a whole person. Just by looking at his "subject" it shows that by and through different stories and actions one can change their outlook on life and themselves. Also the whole theory that he has, about actions making a person is very neat to read and look at. It is especially neat to see it from the other side of the talking, instead of hearing the stories from the specific person we hear it and see the analysis from a specialist. This story, I believe, was better and much more interesting then the story about memoirs and trying to write one.

MEMOIR?

I Could Tell You Stories... by Patricia Hampl.

Well besides this short excerpt, "Memory and Imagination", from Patricia Hampl's story being difficult to read. It talked about her ideas about writing fiction and what we perceive as a non-fiction stories. The beginning starts off with her "first" day being introduced to the piano and the sneezing nun and the snobby classmate. She talks about how this day effected her and what she clearly remembers; later on though you realize that it was all a lie. She goes on to say that this was her first draft therefore she left it how it was and just let the "juices flow," all she did was remember things and put them down in a way that was interesting and captivating for the reader. The whole story suggests that 1) our memories our not always reliable. 2) Writing is supposed to be creative and no holds bar. And finally 3) Question Authority.

Thoughts and What I Learned

This was a very hard read, so it is naturally hard to find out and discover what I really learned. In all honesty this just made me more confused about writing actually. It goes on about how memories are just an action that can get in the way of creative juices, it then goes on to state that there is no real difference in writings and what their genre is. Walking out of this reading I must say that I was taught to just write and whatever happens happens, you can always go back and change it. Another thing learned is that a writer must not always tell the whole truth and only that because you need to keep the audience/reader/"cat" intrigued and interested.